Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1887-01-27


never received a wound" And now,
within three months of his victory over
Maurice, the universal victor came
suddenly and not roughly to the war;
worn veteran, who ut the summons sat
down quietly in his Antwerp citadel
and died. Very rarely has the world
known such a personal record as this.
A HARDY OLD VENETIAN.
That of Enrico Dandolo in Venice is
in certain respects akin to it. He was
eighty-four when chosen Doge. and adj
ministered the duties of his Office with
signal force and efficiency. "Under the
weight of years." as Gibbon expresses
it, "he retained sound understand
ing and manly courage, the spirit of
a hero and the wisdom of a patriot,
anxious to build his fame on the glory
and advantage of his country" He
succeeded in his aim and in the work
he undertook, showing himself wise.
skillful and potent in all matters look
ing to the welfare Of his State and peO-
pie. dying in 1905 at the age of ninety
seven, with a record that made him
lone of the most illustrious characters
of the times" Speaking of this extraor-
binary longevity united to force and
activity. Gibbon says in a note. that
There does mot exist another example
of hero near hundred years of age"
This may be so, though Mondragon
comes very near furnishing "anothcr
example"
BEYOND THE BIBLICAL LIMIT.
But while examples of mental and
physical vigor retained beyond ninety
are not, from the nature of things. to
be looked for, many examples occur of
such vigor well retained up to four
score years and beyond it. Familiar
names present themselves on every
side and in various walks in life. Hum
boldt, the illustrious savant, died in
his ninetieth year, retaining his intel
lectual activity to the last, his great
work, the Cosmos" being begun
after he was seventy-four, and the last
volume of it published in 1858, year
before he died. Leopold Won Rankc,
whose History of the Popes" has made
him best known on this side the sea,
ended his active labors only when his
life ended at ninety years. Won Moltke,
the soul of the Prussian armies which
humbled the power of France, was
seventy years old when the great vic
tories in the name of his King were
achieved. and for years afterward his
force continued undated. King Will
lam himself yet yields the scepter with
no crippled hand, though his years have
reached eighty-nine. Our own history
abounds with examples of men adj
vanced far in years retaining freshness.
strength and elasticity still. Benjamin
Franklin was seventy years old when he
signed his name to the Declaration"
seventy-two when Minister with full
powers to France, and seventy-ninc
when in 1885 he returned home laden
with honors and benedictions. He died
at eighty-four, with faculties and af-
fections unfmpaired.' John Adams
was ninety years old, and Jefferson
eighty-three when they died on the
fourth of July, 1926, their mental vigor,
the latter particularly, hardly. if at all.
impaired. John Quincy Adams died at
eighty in the midst of active and encr-
getic services-such as man in the
full maturity of manhood might render
AS a member of the National House
of Representatives. John Marshall's
faculties shown with undiminished lus-
ter at four-score in the Chief-Justice's
seat in the Supreme Court, which he had
occupied for thirty-four years. Roger
b. fancy sat in the same seat till he
was eighty-seven, and the reins of JUS
tice were firmly held till death relaxed
his grasp: DR.. Eliphalet Mott in 1854.
ut the fiftieth anniversary of his presi-
dency of Union College, when eighty
one years old, held an audince spell
bound in an address of more than an
hours length, marked by the force and
much of the vivacity and eloquence that
his earlier manhood had shown.
VARIOUS VETERANS.
Among examples of this kind taken
from men still on the stage there is
Bancroft, the Nestor of American his
torians, yielding freely at eighty-four
the fruits of an intellectual activity
which seem to grow richer with years.
President Woolsey, at eighty-fivc. and
Mark Hopkins, at eighty-four, speak
and write with the vigor of earlier days.
showing slight, if any, signs of intel
lectual decay. Coming down to lower
decade, there are beyond the sea Clad
stone swaying at seventy-seven Parlia-
ments and popular assemblies with
force never more recognized than
now, and John Bright, year or
two younger, producing even
greater effects upon popular
gathering by his magnetic speech. The
poet Holmes. lately reaping golden
opinions and well-won honors among
his transatlantic cousins, wears his
seventy-seven years as slightly as though
they wer, n cOssamQr rOhe while. Pi,es.